State rankings
Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 4:27 pm
You know how often states are ranked amongst other states. Like Maryland in number 4 in Snarflpolzza, and Texas are number 34 in Gloopazolla. But those yields no information. What would give more information is, what is the mean, and variance. Mean would give us an idea of what is average. Variance helps describe how extreme is the extremes. To give you some idea, low variance means everything is clustered around the average, with little differences. Here, rankings make no sense.
Now, if there is a high variance, meaning there are some extremes, which should indicate trouble areas or perhaps some model that other states should emulate.
Now, both might not describe everything, but what is worth looking at is how something is statistically significant relative to the average, and perhaps worth a study for comparing and contrasting.
Too policy people seem to have forgotten how to use data properly. So any time you hear rankings, be very suspicious.
Now, if there is a high variance, meaning there are some extremes, which should indicate trouble areas or perhaps some model that other states should emulate.
Now, both might not describe everything, but what is worth looking at is how something is statistically significant relative to the average, and perhaps worth a study for comparing and contrasting.
Too policy people seem to have forgotten how to use data properly. So any time you hear rankings, be very suspicious.